Duluoz Legend Series by Jack Kerouac

This is a celebration of the life of Neal Cassady, the author's friend and inspiration. The son of a Denver drop-out, brought up homeless and motherless during the Depression, Cassady - novelized as Cody - lived his life raw, hustling in pool halls, stealing cars and living wild.

"His life...ended when he was nine and the nuns of St. Louis de France Parochial School were at his bedside to take down his dying words because they'd heard his astonishing revelations of heaven delivered in catechism on no more encouragement than it was his turn to speak... more"His life...ended when he was nine and the nuns of St. Louis de France Parochial School were at his bedside to take down his dying words because they'd heard his astonishing revelations of heaven delivered in catechism on no more encouragement than it was his turn to speak...."Unique among Jack Kerouac's novels, Visions of Gerard focuses on the scenes and sensations of childhood—the wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, evil, insight, suffering, delight, and shock—as they were revealed in the short tragic-happy life of his saintly brother, Gerard. Set in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, it is an unsettling, beautiful, and sad exploration of the meaning and precariousness of existence. less

Although he was born and raised in Massachusetts, Jack Kerouac's family was French-Canadian, a fact of which he was proud. Published in 1967, when Kerouac was at the height of his fame, this book tells the story of a ten-day visit to Paris and Brittany in search of his ancestors... moreAlthough he was born and raised in Massachusetts, Jack Kerouac's family was French-Canadian, a fact of which he was proud. Published in 1967, when Kerouac was at the height of his fame, this book tells the story of a ten-day visit to Paris and Brittany in search of his ancestors. On this hectic odyssey, fascinated by everything and everyone he met, from a faded French beauty in a Montparnasse gangster bar to one of his strange, foppish Breton namesakes, Kerouac experienced a feeling of transcendence, a Satori, which was to the Beat generation the culmination of all experience. less